OTTAWA, July 29 (Reuters) - Canadian Prime Minister Stephen
Harper said on Wednesday he was not hopeful that the United
States would approve the northern leg of TransCanada Corp's
controversial Keystone XL pipeline.

Harper also told Bloomberg Television that if President
Barack Obama did veto the project, which is currently under
review, he was confident a future U.S. administration would
grant approval.

The U.S. government - under pressure from environmentalists
to block the pipeline - has repeatedly delayed a decision on
Keystone XL, which would take crude from Canada's tar sands to
U.S. refineries.

"A positive decision has not been rendered for a very long
time and that's obviously not a hopeful sign," Harper said,
referring to what he called "the very peculiar politics of this
particular administration."

Harper has long publicly backed the pipeline and in 2011
called it "a no-brainer." The White House on Wednesday declined
to provide an update on the review, which has been delayed for
more than six years.

Harper also said that while Ottawa was concerned about high
levels of domestic consumer debt, "we don't believe there's any
data that suggests any kind of a pending crisis there."
(Reporting by David Ljunggren; Editing by Chris Reese and Dan
Grebler)